Text: Jude 24-25, Title: Last Words, Date/Place: 11/4/06, AM
A. Opening illustration: Thursday, December 21, 1899, after cutting short a Kansas City crusade and returning home in ill health, D. L. Moody told his family, “I’m not discouraged. I want to live as long as I am useful, but when my work is done I want to be up and off.”
B. Background to passage: Jude forgoes a lot of the customary greetings, prayers, and such that usually follow a letter and ends with a doxology; which in Jewish tradition usually followed a sermon. But what a sermon, and what a closing! These are the last words that we have in the NT of Jude. These are the words that he leaves for a congregation that is about to face head on these false teachers that have crept in unaware. He wants these last two thoughts to remain fixed, lingering in their minds, as they begin this battle to contend earnestly for the faith.
C. Main thought: He wants them to remember two great truths to carry them through the battle.
A. Security in God (v. 24)
1. As these believers begin to assault the forces of darkness, Jude reminds them that their security lies in Christ. He says that God is able to keep them from falling. This word was used of those who turned from the faith, fell from grace, apostatized from Christ. Believers are eternally secure in Christ. Those that have truly believed cannot ultimately fall away from the faith. Not because of their abilities, but because of God’s promises, abilities, and purpose. Argue for eternal security based on the sacrifice of Christ, and the promises of God. And not only will they not fall, God will present them (establish or cause to stand) faultless or “without spot” in the presence of his glory with exceeding joy! It not that believers will just barely make it across the finish line, they will be perfected victorious. God rejoices over believers that have been made, declared righteous.
2. John 5:24, John 6:39-40, John 10:27-28, Heb 10:14, Rom 8:29-30, Phil 1:6, Heb 9:12, 1 Pet 1:5, Eph 1:13-14, Rom 8:1, Col 2:13-14, 2 Tim 1:12, Zeph 3:17, Isa 62:4-5, Jer 32:41
3. Illustration: Charles Stanley’s story about wondering at night if he is really repented of all his sin for that day and kept his salvation, I like to ask people like that when they will lose theirs, Erickson says, “Christ does not simply give us eternal life, then abandon us to our human self-efforts.” “The NT never teaches a doctrine of unjustification, reimpartation of sin, taking back of righteousness or forgiveness, unadoption, unredemption or selling off of saints, taking back of the Holy Spirit, nor of the spiritual killing of one who has been made alive!” Some life insurance company giving all these examples of promises with ending dates, then said, at _________ we make promises that have no ending dates. During initial construction on the Golden Gate Bridge, no safety devices were used and 23 men fell to their deaths. For the final part of the project, however, a large net was used as a safety precaution. At least 10 men fell into it and were saved from certain death. Even more interesting, however, is the fact that 25% more work was accomplished after the net was installed. Why? Because the men had the assurance of their safety, and they were free to wholeheartedly serve the project. Security in a godly marriage…
4. As you witness, as you do missions, as you struggle with sin, as you struggle with doubt, remember, you can really trust God with your salvation. He is faithful and trustworthy with it. Until you settle this question in your mind with the scriptures, you will not be able to fully give yourself unto the Lord in ministry. He has promised to complete what He started in you, and conform you into the image of Christ, and present you as a trophy of His grace and mercy in a perfected state in which your glorified spirit and body will be able to withstand the blazing brightness of the shekinah glory of God because you are covered with an asbestos coating of the righteous of Christ; and do it all with exceedingly great joy! What a marvelous thought that you won’t be consumed by the absolute white hot holiness of God Himself! What a thought that one day you will enjoy life without sin! Think about it. What a marvelous thought that God rejoices over you; you bring Him pleasure and joy. Of course, the corollary is that if you do fall away, you were never His to begin with.
B. Supremacy of God (v. 25)
1. There is no verb in the Gr. Jude is bursting forth in praise to his God. He attributes to God six things. First, exclusivity and wisdom. There is none like Him! Our finite little brains can only conceive of small bits of His awesome person. We will NEVER be able to fully comprehend all of who He is! Better plans, purposes, or situations could not be imagined than God’s. Don’t try, it is impossible! Glory is the weighty, majestic presence consisting of all His divine attributes being manifest in the blinding brightness and radiance of His presence. Majesty is His kingly exaltedness; his splendor and greatness; of which you can never exaggerate, overstate, or even express adequately. Dominion refers to the extent of His might and rule over all of creation. And power or “authority” denotes His intrinsic right to rule and reign over the creation that He made. Jude is also kind enough to share with us the time constraints upon the rule of God. NONE. You note the feeling of “savoring” within Jude’s language.
2. 1 Chron 29:11, Col 1:18, John 3:31, Rev 5:9, 12-13, Philip 2:9-11, Eph 1:20-22
3. Illustration: “God is so vastly wonderful, so utterly and completely delightful that He can, without anything other than Himself, meet and overflow the deepest demands of our total nature…” –Tozer, “Christ is the Creator and great Possessor of heaven and earth. He is sovereign Lord of all. He rules over the whole universe and does whatsoever pleases Him. His knowledge is without bound. His wisdom is perfect, what none can circumvent. His power is infinite. His riches are immense and inexhaustible. His majesty is infinitely awful.” --Edwards, Read Piper, Sex and the Supremacy of Christ, p. 38-41,
4. In every spiritual battle that you fight, make sure that the Supremacy of God is magnified and kept as central. This is the sun around which all the planets of your solar system should orbit. This is the axle upon which all the spokes of the wheel should spin. This is the lynchpin upon which the weight and position of every other component in life hinges. If you don’t get this right, everything else in life will be off-center—skilliwamped. And you will have to fight yourself to keep it central. Never allow yourself to drift one iota away from center, because it is a slippery slope upon which everything else will come crashing down upon. In your job, your attitude, your finances, in worship, in your family, in your thought life, in your goals and dreams, in your calendar, in relationships, in everything Christ should have absolute preeminence. And the first time you sense this isn’t the case, you better begin to fight tooth and nail, cutting off hands and gouging out eyes to kill sin. Secondly, don’t simply know these truths intellectually. Don’t simply be able to recite this verse (although that is good). SAVOR THEM! Love them! Treasure them! Long for them! Enjoy them. God is not only glorified by his being known as He really is, but by his creatures reveling in, savoring, loving, and delighting in these truths. It is one thing to accurately state truth, and another to be in love with accurately stated truth! Therefore WORSHIP Him, SUBMIT to Him, LOVE Him, GIVE EVERYTHING to Him! He is the center of any life that has life!
A. Closing illustration: Dr. Sewall: an old Methodist, when dying shouted aloud the praises of God. His friends said, "Dr. Sewall, do not exert yourself; whisper, doctor, whisper." "Let angels whisper, " said he, "but the soul cleansed from sin by the blood of Christ, a soul redeemed from death and hell, just on the threshold of eternal glory—oh, if I had a voice that would reach from pole to pole, I would proclaim it to all the world: Victory! Victory! through the blood of the Lamb!" I am not come hither to deny my Lord and Master. Anne Askew—July 16, 1545—burned at the stake after torture on the rack, at the age of 25,
B. Recap
C. Invitation to commitment
